1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems which monitor a status of a product, such as prepared food, and more specifically relates to automated product status systems which communicate the status of multiple food products to food preparers, and enable the transfer of food products within the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The control of product freshness and quality has always been a major concern with industries, such as restaurants, dealing with the sale of perishable goods, such as prepared foods. Numerous inventory control systems exist which track parameters such as the origin, quantity used, quantity stored and the age of products. However, an automated system, which monitors the shelf life of perishable goods, has not yet been placed into practice. In addition, many of the systems and methods for monitoring product status currently in use cannot ensure that the oldest product is used first or that available product is optimally used to minimize waste. Therefore, it would be advantageous if such a system or method could accurately and efficiently track the status of perishable goods while providing a means for reducing the amount of waste.
In the restaurant industry, at least two durations of time become important variables to monitor. One is a hold time, which is the shelf life of prepared food or the duration of time during which a particular product meets a set of standards imposed by the food provider. The second variable is a cook time, which is the duration of time required to cook and/or prepare additional product. The cook time must be accounted for if product is to be continually available. In conventional product status systems, employees or workers engaged in the preparation of food typically monitor the hold and cook times, and are required to set, monitor and reset a different timer for each of the large number of food products being sold. Such a situation results in a tremendous inefficiency in the use of manpower and a reduction in productivity. In addition, the potential for human error can lead to an unacceptable or dangerous product being sold to the consumer. Therefore, it would be advantageous if the hold time, cook time and other variables relevant to the preparation and sale of the food product could be automatically monitored and provided to the worker in summary format without undue human intervention.
In most restaurants, the status of products and the need for additional products is communicated by shouting requests or commands across the kitchen or other food preparation area. This results in additional noise, confusion and often misinformation, which ultimately affects the quality of the food being provided to the consumer as well as the environment, provided for the consumers enjoyment within the restaurant. Therefore, a system and method that could effectively communicate the status of each of many products being offered for sale to all workers without the need for individual communication between workers would be advantageous.
Conventional methods of tracking product status do not provide an efficient means for collecting and processing information concerning loss or waste of perishable goods once they have been prepared for sale; the rate of sale for each product during different periods of the day and promotional events; and worker productivity. Therefore, it would be advantageous if a product status system could provide information on such variables for use in management databases and as a planning tool.
Many of the product status systems in the prior art, such as those using individual timers monitored by workers for each of a number of different products being sold, require that additional timers be used, and that the workers become familiar with additional hold and cook times when new and/or different products are sold. Therefore, it would be advantageous if a product status system was flexible and readily upgradeable to adapt to different types and quantities of food products without burdening the workers and decreasing productivity.